Funding secured for Ropewalks apartment scheme

Liverpool-based developer Iliad has secured funding for its new apartment scheme in the Ropewalks.

The Eight Building, which will include 120 flats, is the second phase of Iliad’s St Michael’s student development.

Demolition work is well underway at the site of the former Grenville Young Persons Centre and a derelict playground situated between Grenville Street South and Upper Pitt Street.

Spread over two blocks, with varying heights from four to seven storeys, the new scheme will include an element of community/commercial space on the ground floor.

The development will also see the reinstatement of Cornwallis Street – creating a new link between the Ropewalks and the Baltic Triangle.

Liverpool City Council awarded planning permission for the scheme in July this year and it has now been announced that CBRE’s Investment Advisory team, part of CBRE Capital Advisors, has structured and underwritten a £11.2 million loan facility on behalf of Merseyside Pension Fund’s (MPF) ‘Catalyst Fund’, to finance the development.

Councillor Paul Doughty, chair of MPF, says: “We are pleased to have made our first Catalyst Fund property investment.

“As the fund is the local government pension scheme for the Liverpool City Region (LCR) it’s rewarding that we are able to provide our members with a commercial return whilst stimulating economic growth in the LCR. We look forward to the potential of making similar investments in the future.”

Tim Molloy from Iliad, adds: “Iliad have been successfully developing in the Ropewalks area for the last 20 years and are now delighted to be working with a local fund to bring forward our latest scheme which will create jobs and much needed family housing in the area.”